3. “Publishing” Lawyers
• 387 lawyers and firms list publishing law as a
specialty in the West Legal Directory
• Each site a potential for content
• Firms range from solo to 73 with 500+ firm
size

5. Lawyers as Literary Agents

6. Definition
• The body of law relating to the publication of books, magazines, newspapers, electronic
materials, and other artistic works.
• Publishing law is not a discrete legal topic with its own laws. It is a collection of often
disparate legal areas, such as contracts, intellectual property, torts and the First Amendment.
• Publishing is the act of distributing or otherwise making public a visual or literary work.
• The key players in publishing are publishers and authors.
– Publishers are those persons or organizations that dispense information to the public.
– The term author commonly describes writers and journalists, but where publishing is
concerned, the term also describes photographers, filmmakers, video artists, and other
artists whose work is published.
• Most publishers designate a lawyer to review a publishable work and identify its potential
legal pitfalls. This person, called a legal liaison, may confer with outside legal counsel to
ensure that the publication does not ensnare the publisher or author in legal conflict.
– A legal liaison should be familiar with the many legal issues peculiar to publishing,
including Copyright and TRADEMARK infringement, sales, advertising, distribution
policies, subscription agreements, special sales arrangements, insurance, free speech,
tax matters, and antitrust concerns stemming from the publisher's membership in trade
associations. Other employees of publishers, such as editors, also should be trained to
spot potential legal problems with a publishable work and bring them to the attention
of the legal liaison before publication.

7. Perle & Williams on Publishing Law, 3rd Ed

9. Think about what’s inside the
box , then think outside the box

10. Fun area of law to practice research
skills
• Content is distributed globally
• Spectrum of from information
overload to no legal authorities at
your disposal
• Resort to Berring “Commando Legal
Research Rules
– Use a Human Being
– Any Port in a Storm
• Often have to back into publishing
law research through news

11. Secondary Sources

12. Major Treatises
• Perle & Williams on Publishing Law, 3rd Ed
• Lindey on Entertainment, Publishing and the Arts, 3d (LIN
• Lots of popular out of date treatises on writer’s
guides to publishing.
• Use group databases (e.g. TP-ALL) or one search box
to capture hybrid nature of area of law
• Use UNH Law online catalog and consider subject
headings like : authors & publishers, press law, book
industries, copyright, electronic publishing…

13. Legal Periodical Literature
• Legal Resource Index
• Full text Wexis databases
• Legal Scholarship Network
– More content than Wexis
• Google Scholar
• JSTOR
• EBSCOHOST
• Open web Findlaw and LawReview.org

14. Open Web
• Government sites (e.g. Copyright Office)
• NGO & Industry
• Lawyers
• Educational
• News
• Blogs

16. “Publishing” Lawyers
• 387 lawyers and firms list publishing law as a
specialty in the West Legal Directory
• Each site a potential for content
• Firms range from solo to 73 with 500+ firm
size

17. Educational
• Courses
• Law reviews
– often wrapped into “media law” etc.
• Faculty Articles
• Blogs
• Symposia & Conferences

18. News
• Spectrum from dedicated
pubs to global search of
news sources:
– Wexis
– Google News
• Look for email news and/or
RSS feeds. PW Daily Newsletter Daily (M-F)
Authoritative reporting of the day's most
important information - big deals, personnel
moves, sales information and technology
developments. Includes blogging updates,
employment information and author media
appearances.

19. Practice Materials
• Practice & Procedure Sets by Wexis Publishing
• Form Sets by Wexis Publishing
• Forms aggregators on Wexis

20. More occult publishing practice
data…
• Public records
• Court Dockets, Records, Briefs and Filings
• Expert Witness Analysis, Jury Verdicts &
Settlements
• LexisNexis® Verdict & Settlement Analyzer
• LexisNexis® Total Litigator
• LexisNexis® Transactional Practice Centers

21. • On Wexis
• 70+ PLI items on
publishing law

22. Primary Sources
Spectrum from open web to
premium content

23. • Secondary sources
• TARP and TRAC – remember?
• One search approach
• News alerts of new cases

24. Statutes
• Same access challenges as case law
• Back in via news & business intelligence
• Look for sites with topical statute collections
• MLRC's 50-State Surveys
• Monitor emerging issues like #SOPA #PIPA
Internet Publishing Laws

26. Regulations
• There are many CFR sections regulating
publishing spanning
– Agriculture
– Banks
– Commerce & Foreign Trade
– Foreign relations
– Labor
– Money & Finance
– National Defense
– Telecommunications

27. Foreign Laws
• Wexis have wildly inconsistent country
coverage.
• No “publishing law around the world”
resource
• Cross reference Wexis

28. Foreign NGOs

29. Synergy with entertainment law?

30. Similar Primary & Secondary
Source Scene

31. • Music business
• Your band as a new business
• What kind of Business should my
band be?
• Protecting the name of your band
• An ever-evolving industry
• Band management
• Music Career
• Creating a Business Team
• Shopping your tape
• The Music Product Team
• Making Your CD and Jackets
• The live performance team
• Performing at a Local Level

32. Helpful sites

33. Westlaw Tools & Strategies
• Customize your tabs /favorites
• Look for custom content
– Lindey on Entertainment, Publishing and the Arts,
3d (LINDEY3D)
– Publish (PUBLISH)
– Business Publisher (BUSPUB)
– Multimedia Publisher (MMEDPUB)
– Publishers Weekly (PUBLRWKLY)
– Publishers Newswire (PUBLNEWSWIRE)
– Seybold Report on Publishing Systems (SYBLDPS)

34. West Topics and Key Numbers

35. Experiment with One Search Option

37. • Traditional directory sites
such as Blawg don’t have a
publishing law topical area
• Back into publishing issues
via search
– Google Blog Search
– Note “Blog homepages for
publishing law”
• Feature of publishing law
firm sites
• Lexis now syndicates
selective blogs

38. Don’t forget RSS to collect blogs

39. Linkedin

40. Twitter
• Often first instance of publishing news
• Most law firms and publishing organizations tweet
• Links in tweets may be only place to get a doc
• “Tweets get buried and lost…Twitter is useless”
– Set up two twitter accounts
• One for PR or fun & other to follow select few
• Tweets are now searchable on Google

41. RSS Feeds
• Websites of all types
• Blogs
• Wikis
• Email newsletters
– Also RSS feeds into emails

42. Google Reader in Plain English

43. In conclusion, change is constant so
stay in touch with the Library…